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plein air

The Coming Storm by George Inness, 1879, oil on canvas, 27 1/4 x 41 3/4. Are you as bored of pretty outdoor painting scenes as I am? My eyes just seem to glaze over when I see a plein air painting scene with picture perfect sunlight over an idyllic landscape. I'm just not inspired. Give me a little...

Lee's Ranch - Sunny Day by Camille Przewodek, 9 x 12, oil on canvas. Even now it sounds like a beautiful, incredible, impossible thing to accomplish. I mean, paint light ? It seemed like magic to me at first. And I didn't understand what it all entailed. That changed after I began studying Camille...

Schloss Kammer at Lake Atter I by Gustav Klimt, 1908, oil on canvas. It seems impossible, right? I mean I'm out there painting, everything looks so fresh and crisp, the air and wind feel so good on my face, and then all of a sudden I am practically in tears because I've done it again. I've...

I put aside my oil painting work to take up a sketchbook and watercolors to capture the sights and sounds around me during my trip . If you are a painter, you know that sometimes the best thing to do is get away from it all...and do more painting. I was very blessed this summer to take a wonderful vacation...

Rocky Cliff by Asher B. Durand, oil on canvas, 1860. Based on an article by Allison Malafronte. As you all well know, I spend a lot of time writing. But I also spend a lot of time reading, and lately I have absolutely fallen in love with reading letters, journals, and diaries of artists. It is like truly...

Squall Line by John Hulsey (30 x 40, oil painting). John Hulsey and Ann Trusty created their website, The Artist’s Road , to inspire their readers and students with practical art tips and plein air painting techniques for the traveling artist. John and Ann have been blogging for us at Artist Daily...

In this large scale painting by Stephen Bennett ( Beach Baby , 2001, acrylic, 80 x 64), the faint lines and varied color on the lips are faithfully rendered. As an unrepentant smart mouth, I know how much value two lips have, in real life and especially in a portrait painting . The saying is that the...

Scott Burdick often does plein air studies, like this one ( Vermilion Cliffs , 2009, plein air oil painting, 9 x 12), on lightweight panels that are easy to travel with. I was watching a documentary about the Appalachian Trail the other day and was amazed to hear that hikers stopping at one particular...

We believe in the truth of the adage that there are "diamonds in our own backyards." To live it instead of just talking about it, we made the short trip to paint the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Mo. just a few hours from our door. We have always been inspired by rivers big and small. Whether...

When talking about landscape painting, we don't often consider the urban landscape for a plein air painting subject, but for those painters who live in cities and urban areas, it can be a challenge to find any natural landscape to paint at all. Resourcefulness and a bit of daring are sometimes called...

Great Basin, Mount Katahdin, Maine , by Frederic Edwin Church, 1852, oil painting. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that plein air painting is something artists of all styles, subject matter, and strengths can enjoy. Throughout history numerous landscape approaches have emerged either...

Le Parc Monseau by Claude Monet, oil painting, 1877. Interestingly enough, technology played a major role in influencing the course of art history in the mid-1800s. Among several notable technological revolutions was the invention of the metal paint tube, which made paint portable, and the railway system...

Plein air painting often requires a Herculean effort on the part of the artist. It can't be taught in a studio. It must be experienced first-hand to be fully appreciated. All the senses and faculties must be fully engaged, especially curiosity. One cannot come to this job with any preconceived notion...

A few years ago I remember seeing some paintings by C.W. Mundy that he had created upside-down. I liked the paintings a lot, especially the looseness, with the large shapes of color and values. I hadn't thought about those paintings until recently. I was going to paint from a photo reference one...

An eloquent and unexpected use of color is often what divides beginning painters like me from the greats. But there are several basic rules of thumb that we can build on to propel ourselves and our paintings onto higher, more sophisticated ground, artistically speaking. With practice and attention, one...